Dan as a business owner for 39 years my path was similar, I was the mechanic, flipped some cars, service advisor, body man, painter, and much more. I don’t recommend that for anyone, the only reason I survived was a supportive wife and I was too stubborn to quit. What I would tell my younger self is pick one part of the business that I really love, become the best at it and market that. By the way an “ overnight success “ takes about 20 years.
Take this with a grain of salt, but one of my good friends owns one of the biggest supercar dealerships in the USA - you would 100% know the company. His key to getting started was to keep overhead super super low. He didn’t own exotics or luxury homes until WAY into the journey. Keep your eye on the long game, and keep expenses and luxuries down as much as you can.
I watch your Ferrari channel everyday, but own a Corvette and a Mustang. I pause your videos all the time just to look at the engines and undercarriages! Its like a car show for me.
I haven’t checked into your channel in a long time, but it seems like despite the slow sales at the moment you guys are doing great, and I’m so thrilled to hear that you’re a dad now!! So much for that license plate! This year has been kind of a slump for lots of people, myself included, but we are scraping by and using the downtime to just get organized and improve our processes in place etc. It will pick back up, it always does.
Hopefully, your business picks up for the end of the year. I like the idea of expanding the parts selection to other cars. I can't afford a Ferrari but I like my Mustang GT and its fun to drive. I like the video content of all the different cars at your dealership.
Well, Dan, I raised two kids and worked part time and that was even difficult for me to get anything accomplished. I feel ya. Tomorrow’s another day. Good luck during the holiday season. I still love that blu 430. Was just a bit late to purchase that baby.
Car market in general is going through many cycles at once. Depreciation from over inflated prices, the electric, hybrid, gas curve, major quality issues with newer cars so many people are confused on what to buy hence prices/demand keeps declining. plus the overall economy is not great. It's definitely a business that's not for the faint of heart as we're back to dealing in a depreciating asset and now a harsh market curve atm that will likely continue for a while. JMO. Wish you the best.
Agree on much of what you say, but it’s not the economy. The economy is chugging along and hard to beat being No 1 in the world. I believe it’s due to political fatigue. Could pick up after November, depending on how things go.
Yes keeping over head low is key to survival but if you want to grow you need a team. Being a small business owner is hard “your it”. No reward without the risk. Took a massive swing keep at it. I know you have helped a lot of people grow and love Ferrari’s. You inspired me to wrench and restore one. I am on my second one sold for a small loss too,😂 but learned a great deal. Boosted my confidence to go for a 16M. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and to be a part of this journey. Oh yes I had 5 different small businesses when I was young. It was truly hard, but I adapted and learned. Good luck to you
Hang in there Dan! The problem with EV is the tires wear out pretty fast, the insurance is higher, and the repair cost may be higher if car gets damaged. Thank you for letting me live vicariously through you guys. I know having an exotic dealership is a fantasy for many car enthusiasts but the reality is much different.
For sure man, get some Z06's, Shelby GT500's, etc. up in there and you'll make a ton more money. It'll up your volume but more margin and more annual profit.👍
Hey Dan. My Wife and I just picked up a Tesla Model Y and are very happy with it. Slight downsize from a Honda Pilot that we handed down to a kid in college. 1 month in but so far so good. Considered a few others but the Tesla charging network being super seemless was the tipping point.
My buddy gave me a ride in his JCW Cooper on Thursday. It’s a bone shaker ;) A TFD blue F430 is what got me watching your channel back in 2017. I hear the Kia EVs have killer lease rates.
Very interesting considering you are one of the only companies in the world that does these conversions, and peaked my interest in this channel. I would have put money on it that you would have had a booming business, and i am sorry to hear it isnt.
Humble recommendation, add McLaren common parts to your website. To keep costs low, do drop ship from distributors. I’d love to buy actuators, toe eye covers, brake pads, rotors, tuning maps, etc.. from you.
My Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is the perfect daily commute vehicle, with the ability to switch to ICE for longer trips. Currently, EV use is 90% and fuel consumption 1.2 L/100 km. EV range is temperature dependent, but around 65-75km on average. Charged on solar mostly. A good percentage of the fuel consumption is obligatory as it is designed to stop the fuel going stale.
I got a Hyundai PHEV recently too. It's EV range isn't that great, but the 30 miles covers a lot of driving. If I want to go farther, I just use good ole 'dinosaur juice.' The battery is smaller than a full-EV, so hopefully will make replacement of that viable, rather than just totalling the car.
As a business owner myself I hear a lot of thing you are saying. But I do have a question. What are you guys? You are like a mechanic, a car salesman, a parts director, a manager. And your buddy seems the same. You guys need someone to focus on sales and auctions properly. A quality good salesman with great follow up. A better inventory. Not people that wear 80 hats because the whole business will never grow that way and it will only get worse. Respect though of course for being a business owner.
A book about this small business experience should be written and made available on Amazon and your web site. Probably would translate into a channel subscriber boost as well.
Dan, I ran my small family retail business for nearly 20 years. Prior to that it was under 2 other generations for around 60 years. I had ledgers going back to the 70s. One thing was for sure, business came in cycles both up and down. My advice is focus on the stuff that makes you money in the lean times, go after that as hard as you can. The other stuff, the nice to haves, put those on the back burner. Ignore all the 2,5,10x punters who run e-com businesses, you are retail face to face (so to speak) and its a much harder market with a much smaller customer base. Its a niche business really, very similar to mine. I appreciate your business is fairly young but it was always my mantra to have at least 1 years operating costs available in case of significant slow down. As it happened I *seriously* needed that twice in 20 years. Once in the 07/08 recession (big time) and again during COVID (not as bad as 08). The idea is survive and re-build. Had to do that twice. After the second time I decided I was getting too old for this so I retired 2 years ago. My gut feeling is Q1/2 25 is going to be rough. HTH.
I know how hard it is to run a small business. I had a construction estimate business for years until the great recession happened. And it was only a paper and data based business. Much simpler than any car biz. And even IT was a terrible PITA to run. Now, many are running out of $$$ for expensive luxury items, and repos are up, I've heard, 500% and most banks stopped with vehicle loans.It's no wonder it's getting tough for this kind of business. And I have to plead 'guilty' being a 'Vette owner watching your channel. It's just really interesting to see how the other half lives....lol!
A late friend of mine was a well known classic Ferrari dealer a few years ago dealing with a number of very high end cars. I asked him what was his biggest money maker and to my surprise he said "The Austin Healey 3000's and Jaugars E types. I get them in and move them out that week and I make a couple of thousand on each one. You gotta move the metal in this business. A 250 2+2 Ferrari will sit for 3 months on average." This was some time ago but I think it is still true.
Not just the car market. A lot of markets are slow, it’s high interest rates and an election year. Happens every 4yrs but never seen it this bad as a business owner myself.
In surprised the Viper was a hit. They have come down a bit but good examples like yours have held their value pretty well. One idea, you could start doing cars on consignment where you take the sale money and buy other cars with them and inflate your inventory. I heard its risky thouh. 😬
This video reminded me of this quote............................. In the movie Heartbreak Ridge, Clint Eastwood's character Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Highway says the phrase "Improvise, adapt, overcome"
I run a machining shop that primarily makes parts for electric breakers and for the packaging of food...cold cuts, meats, veggies etc. We are about 20% slower compared to last year. Feedback from clients is it won't change til at least the spring. The packaging side is people are skipping out on the nice to have items but not necessary items and on the copper breaker side, allot of this stuff is financed and rates are high so clients are just asking for repair vs new breakers. Just have to adapt or as you said it...die.
Have you thought about converting the Superleggera to a 6 speed manual? Been waiting for a manual car to come up for sale. Last one I saw was by Curated may be 5 years ago. Hesitated and missed out.
Economy hasn’t nearly been as strong as it seems for a while and it’s really coming to a head now. Many other industries have been suffering for a few years now after the overspending of 2021/1H 2022. Combine that with seasonal slowdowns and yeah, it’s going to be a tough 6 months but hopefully picks up in spring.
“Overspending in 2021 and 2022.” Not according to the Congressional oversight office (neutral). The record spending was during the previous administration.
@@rckrckrckrck Gotcha. At some point corporate, will have to reassess their spending. I would also like to see a bit less of the corporate greed we’ve been experiencing. At least Dan’s business isn’t top heavy.
Not that I would dream of telling you what to do but your story sounds familiar especially in the exotic car world, case in point is Michael Sheenan Ferraris on line in California who for over 40 years changed his business quite a few times always adapting to the craziness of the Ferrari world. You might want to check him out and his story.
Hi, Dan! Thanks for the content and for your frank, honest manner. Wondering if you'd ever consider doing manual conversions on Aston Martins, specifically the VH-Era cars that had the Sport Shift 1 & 2 automated manual transmissions? From what I've gathered, they are similar to the F1 & E-Gear transmissions that Ferrari & Lamborghini used (possibly made by Graziano?). I have an '08 V8 Vantage Roadster that I absolutely love, however, most Roadsters that came out of the factory came heavily optioned, including the Sport Shift transmission...manual roadsters are rare here in the States. Keep up the great work!
Stick with supercars because that fits with the business case. If you would like to do more business start a new company with a separate business case because that is a total different market with low margins and much more volume based. also hire some employees for physical work because so you can focus on customers and sales. Maybe good time to update the current business case/forcast with actuals and plan the next quarters.
It's a great idea to expand to exotic but less expensive cars. For example, Giulia Quadrifoglio, AMGs, BMW M cars, stuff like that would be cool, plus all the american equivalents, which you know better than I.
@normalguysupercar I was a programmer for many years on digital vax and sun microsystems...I loved sun sparcs .....I miss the mainframe days...but for me it's been over for 20 years
@@normalguysupercarAgree. We’ve had EV’s for about nine years and their charge cost doesn’t even show a blip on our power bill. Comparisons with gasoline show an equivalent cost of less than a buck a gallon.
Dan has a Gt40 replica and does a short drive to work and back Meg has a family size mini and does a small commute Wouldnt selling the gt40 be the smart move (or is it up for sale?)
I’d heard somewhere that importing secondhand Chinese EVs avoids the 100% imports tariff? It’s a business I want to look into given China and lots EVs on my doorstep Are you doing manual conversions for lambos btw?
@@normalguysupercar - ok thanks FYR supercars cheaper here - f430s 50k USD or below - gallardos the same - but Hong Kong cars right hand drive Lots supercar owners here might be interested in parts manual conversions though ;
Hey Dan, I live here in the Bay Area and I always check my favorite super cars and classics dealerships. Is it ok to notify you and what is the best way to contact you. Let me know, I would love to help.
Problem is pretty much all supercars market is long now in so-called bubble level territory. Biggest joke are probably manual F355s changing hands for $250k+ in some instances lmao. Had a manual one back in the early 00s, great car but definitely not a $250k car. Not referring to ultra rare examples with less than 10,000kms, but run of the mill 30,000-100000kms examples. By the way manuals are not that rare at all, at least here in Europe. You can find them all day long and in fact all 94-96 examples were actually manuals.
I don't know if it's in your budget, but look into the Mini Countryman SE, which is basically the newer electric version of Meg's current car, has similar power and torque figures. It's around 50k.
You may want to look into including the previous generation of Maserati Granturismo and Quattroporte. They are more affordable and share a lot of parts with Ferrari.
Gov always says small business is the backbone of America yet they make all kinds of rules and regulation that make very difficult to succeed. Also your friends all expect a deal from you and don't forget to buy softball uniforms for people you never seeing your business
I had a shop that worked on Ferrari / Maserati. Things went slow so I decided t move down market. HUGE MISTAKE. They are two different customers with 2 different needs. The down market people want PRICE PRICE PRICE. Margins were terrible. You have to make it back with volume. They also want it today no matter what it is and so do you because you need the money. What happens is the exotics get left behind as you try to get another car out the door so the guy doesn't report you on facebook. Then you have all kinds of equipment and tools and manuals you don't have. Your mechanics may not have experience. You probably have different parts suppliers and subcontractors. Bottom line -- sometimes its better to stay in your own lane.
Downturn is just starting i think. My 80 year old business has slowed way down and I expect it to get worse. Buckle up, I've been through this a couple of times, its way easier with no kids or debt.
It seems like if you can buy F1 F430s with some margin between your cost and retail, and then covert them, you could add even more margin between your total cost in and retail. Easier said than done?
Take people for rides. $100 a pop. You could make $500 a day. And get content. Easy peasy. And, you are getting the enjoyment of the car and it's miles. They your pets.
@@normalguysupercar I think people would and you could get steady income from that. Each of the guys getting a few hundred dollars in Revenue a day. It is very expensive to rent these things it's not like they can just go drive one on their own. Unless they have a friend that has a Supercar they're out of luck
How far is the charging station from your home, Don't get one with a bad battery bank that has to be replace, as my fiancé did, insurance acts VERY shady to cover the expense. Your business move is GREAT ! ! you do have to take a small loss to stay in business, you need to teach other business that, they stay greedy then blame American people.
Hi dan....yes its a big shit sandwich and we all are going to have to take a bite... Im not makeing big bucks buying and trading rolexes anymore...those 2k and 3k days are long gone...but im retired 68 and have SS plus a very small pension from ibm....which may pay the elec bill. Ive sold my house and live in a over 55 apt community in magnolia texas.....easy to budget this way vs home are money pits. 💰 good luck ....i remain hopeful but i really think its going to get worse before it gets any better....
OK, business is slow, however I bet if I started negotiating selling price, you wouldn’t budge a bit. That’s why business is slow and you’re going underwater on interest. It’s gonna be all your way or no bidness…..my instincts are rarely wrong.
As a Stock Trader & Car enthusiasts I appreciate your insight on the current market conditions, Many market participants (including myself) have this theory of an upcoming recession but the recent job report showed everything is fine (the numbers are manipulated) probably for the sake of election Thanks again
True key aspect of non farm payrolls & weekly job claims is that they tend to get revised up or down on the next releases since the initial release comprises 60-70% of the responses and by the time of the second or third releases it gets to 100% for the referenced month They always tend to smooth things out prior to election and explode it afterwards
Dan as a business owner for 39 years my path was similar, I was the mechanic, flipped some cars, service advisor, body man, painter, and much more. I don’t recommend that for anyone, the only reason I survived was a supportive wife and I was too stubborn to quit. What I would tell my younger self is pick one part of the business that I really love, become the best at it and market that. By the way an “ overnight success “ takes about 20 years.
Yeah we're only 25% of the way to overnight success. Lol
Thank you for sharing your story. It gives me hope 💪
Love the authenticity. Honest content. I’ve been there. Hang in there.
Yup it will get better.
Take this with a grain of salt, but one of my good friends owns one of the biggest supercar dealerships in the USA - you would 100% know the company. His key to getting started was to keep overhead super super low. He didn’t own exotics or luxury homes until WAY into the journey. Keep your eye on the long game, and keep expenses and luxuries down as much as you can.
My overhead is pretty darn low. Both in the business and at home. That's not to say I can't tighten the belt a little.
I watch your Ferrari channel everyday, but own a Corvette and a Mustang. I pause your videos all the time just to look at the engines and undercarriages! Its like a car show for me.
Haha they are works of art
Improvise, adapt, overcome.
Yup
I haven’t checked into your channel in a long time, but it seems like despite the slow sales at the moment you guys are doing great, and I’m so thrilled to hear that you’re a dad now!! So much for that license plate! This year has been kind of a slump for lots of people, myself included, but we are scraping by and using the downtime to just get organized and improve our processes in place etc. It will pick back up, it always does.
Yeah we're not in the toilet, it's just noticeably slower
I actually noticed alot of supercar dealers sell a lot of mustangs, corvettes, M cars. etc to keep things moving along. Just my two cents.
Yeah
Great “He too old” clip. One of the best mustangs clips of all time ! 😂
Lol yes
Love the direction you are taking your dealership. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Our pleasure!
Hang in there. Get past this down time. Youve done so much , been through a lot and have come a long way.
Yup
Hopefully, your business picks up for the end of the year. I like the idea of expanding the parts selection to other cars. I can't afford a Ferrari but I like my Mustang GT and its fun to drive. I like the video content of all the different cars at your dealership.
Thank you for the feedback. We're definitely looking into it
Well, Dan, I raised two kids and worked part time and that was even difficult for me to get anything accomplished. I feel ya. Tomorrow’s another day. Good luck during the holiday season. I still love that blu 430. Was just a bit late to purchase that baby.
Thank you.
Car market in general is going through many cycles at once. Depreciation from over inflated prices, the electric, hybrid, gas curve, major quality issues with newer cars so many people are confused on what to buy hence prices/demand keeps declining. plus the overall economy is not great. It's definitely a business that's not for the faint of heart as we're back to dealing in a depreciating asset and now a harsh market curve atm that will likely continue for a while. JMO. Wish you the best.
Totally agreed
Agree on much of what you say, but it’s not the economy. The economy is chugging along and hard to beat being No 1 in the world. I believe it’s due to political fatigue. Could pick up after November, depending on how things go.
That is a normal guy day! Sending Good vibes that sales will pick up add good deals will be plentiful to fill the inventory.
Thank you very much
Yes keeping over head low is key to survival but if you want to grow you need a team. Being a small business owner is hard “your it”. No reward without the risk. Took a massive swing keep at it. I know you have helped a lot of people grow and love Ferrari’s. You inspired me to wrench and restore one. I am on my second one sold for a small loss too,😂 but learned a great deal. Boosted my confidence to go for a 16M. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and to be a part of this journey. Oh yes I had 5 different small businesses when I was young. It was truly hard, but I adapted and learned. Good luck to you
Yes we've certainly discussed getting more help but I'm kinda glad we didn't as that would make it even harder right now
Hang in there Dan! The problem with EV is the tires wear out pretty fast, the insurance is higher, and the repair cost may be higher if car gets damaged. Thank you for letting me live vicariously through you guys. I know having an exotic dealership is a fantasy for many car enthusiasts but the reality is much different.
Indeed
I mean this in the best possible way: Your shop is too nice.
Haha thank you
For sure man, get some Z06's, Shelby GT500's, etc. up in there and you'll make a ton more money. It'll up your volume but more margin and more annual profit.👍
Well the only catch is those typically have smaller margins but there's less risk as they are overall cheaper
Hey Dan. My Wife and I just picked up a Tesla Model Y and are very happy with it. Slight downsize from a Honda Pilot that we handed down to a kid in college. 1 month in but so far so good. Considered a few others but the Tesla charging network being super seemless was the tipping point.
That's on the short list
@@normalguysupercarThe domestics have adapters making tesla sites now available.
Smart, well done sir!
Thank you! Cheers!
My buddy gave me a ride in his JCW Cooper on Thursday. It’s a bone shaker ;)
A TFD blue F430 is what got me watching your channel back in 2017.
I hear the Kia EVs have killer lease rates.
Yeah
Very interesting considering you are one of the only companies in the world that does these conversions, and peaked my interest in this channel. I would have put money on it that you would have had a booming business, and i am sorry to hear it isnt.
There's a few places that do them actually but obviously I'm not gonna give them free marketing
Humble recommendation, add McLaren common parts to your website. To keep costs low, do drop ship from distributors. I’d love to buy actuators, toe eye covers, brake pads, rotors, tuning maps, etc.. from you.
We don't really have connections for OEM parts from any manufacturer
My Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is the perfect daily commute vehicle, with the ability to switch to ICE for longer trips. Currently, EV use is 90% and fuel consumption 1.2 L/100 km. EV range is temperature dependent, but around 65-75km on average. Charged on solar mostly. A good percentage of the fuel consumption is obligatory as it is designed to stop the fuel going stale.
That's cool
@@normalguysupercar Austin is our sister city. I suspect we have a similar number of sunny days yearly, but maybe without Texas humidity.
I got a Hyundai PHEV recently too. It's EV range isn't that great, but the 30 miles covers a lot of driving. If I want to go farther, I just use good ole 'dinosaur juice.' The battery is smaller than a full-EV, so hopefully will make replacement of that viable, rather than just totalling the car.
Please keep adapting because I plan on buying an f430 or converting one with you as soon as possible
You bet.
Stay pushing
Always
Well done showing all and sundry that selling cars is not easy !
Yup it's hard work
As a business owner myself I hear a lot of thing you are saying. But I do have a question.
What are you guys? You are like a mechanic, a car salesman, a parts director, a manager. And your buddy seems the same.
You guys need someone to focus on sales and auctions properly. A quality good salesman with great follow up. A better inventory. Not people that wear 80 hats because the whole business will never grow that way and it will only get worse. Respect though of course for being a business owner.
I'm an ideal world we would specialize more but that's not feasible with 2 people
A book about this small business experience should be written and made available on Amazon and your web site. Probably would translate into a channel subscriber boost as well.
That's not a bad idea
Dan, I ran my small family retail business for nearly 20 years. Prior to that it was under 2 other generations for around 60 years. I had ledgers going back to the 70s. One thing was for sure, business came in cycles both up and down. My advice is focus on the stuff that makes you money in the lean times, go after that as hard as you can. The other stuff, the nice to haves, put those on the back burner. Ignore all the 2,5,10x punters who run e-com businesses, you are retail face to face (so to speak) and its a much harder market with a much smaller customer base. Its a niche business really, very similar to mine. I appreciate your business is fairly young but it was always my mantra to have at least 1 years operating costs available in case of significant slow down. As it happened I *seriously* needed that twice in 20 years. Once in the 07/08 recession (big time) and again during COVID (not as bad as 08). The idea is survive and re-build. Had to do that twice. After the second time I decided I was getting too old for this so I retired 2 years ago. My gut feeling is Q1/2 25 is going to be rough. HTH.
We've been trying to get there. There's a lot of market conditions that make this particular business pretty difficult when your this small
Now is the time to deal practical used cars/trucks vs exotic/collectibles. Located in Texas I would specialize in Trucks and non electric cars.
Yeah we're considering that
Yes insurance is really low on EVs because almost anyone can work on one and you can get the batteries at CVS.
Praying for you 🙏🏻 you can do it!!
Thanks
I know how hard it is to run a small business. I had a construction estimate business for years until the great recession happened. And it was only a paper and data based business. Much simpler than any car biz. And even IT was a terrible PITA to run. Now, many are running out of $$$ for expensive luxury items, and repos are up, I've heard, 500% and most banks stopped with vehicle loans.It's no wonder it's getting tough for this kind of business. And I have to plead 'guilty' being a 'Vette owner watching your channel. It's just really interesting to see how the other half lives....lol!
Nothing wrong with Corvettes. 😁
A late friend of mine was a well known classic Ferrari dealer a few years ago dealing with a number of very high end cars. I asked him what was his biggest money maker and to my surprise he said "The Austin Healey 3000's and Jaugars E types. I get them in and move them out that week and I make a couple of thousand on each one. You gotta move the metal in this business. A 250 2+2 Ferrari will sit for 3 months on average." This was some time ago but I think it is still true.
That's why we like the f430s and 360s so much. They normally move pretty fast
What is the model of that older white 4 door jaguar behind him?
Xj6 series 3
@@normalguysupercar awesome thank you. I'm sure its incredibly unreliable but I love how they look
Hopefully lower interest rates will start to kick in and help you guys out.
Hopefully
In my experience insurance on an EV is way more expensive than on an ICE vehicle
That may be true
@@normalguysupercarI guess it depends. Our EV’s cost less to insure than our ICE powered cars.
@@normalguysupercarit’s NOT true! It’s the politics of trumps cult!
Everything is slow right now. I own a plumbing business and we have to drive further out to keep up with call volume
Yup. Many businesses are facing similar situations from what I've heard from friends that own businesses
Thanks for the Moe cameo!
Of course
Not just the car market. A lot of markets are slow, it’s high interest rates and an election year. Happens every 4yrs but never seen it this bad as a business owner myself.
Yup
In surprised the Viper was a hit. They have come down a bit but good examples like yours have held their value pretty well.
One idea, you could start doing cars on consignment where you take the sale money and buy other cars with them and inflate your inventory. I heard its risky thouh. 😬
Same here. I figured such a low mileage gen3 coupe would've been profitable.
Ouch! Shots fired at Clay?😆
We do consignments but not as often.
When things go wrong....they go WRONG. I ran a small business for 15 years. There were many times I wondered why I did this. lol.
Haha yes it can get really tough
This video reminded me of this quote............................. In the movie Heartbreak Ridge, Clint Eastwood's character Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Highway says the phrase "Improvise, adapt, overcome"
That's actually pretty solid.
I run a machining shop that primarily makes parts for electric breakers and for the packaging of food...cold cuts, meats, veggies etc. We are about 20% slower compared to last year. Feedback from clients is it won't change til at least the spring. The packaging side is people are skipping out on the nice to have items but not necessary items and on the copper breaker side, allot of this stuff is financed and rates are high so clients are just asking for repair vs new breakers. Just have to adapt or as you said it...die.
Sounds familiar. It's pretty much everywhere
Have you thought about converting the Superleggera to a 6 speed manual? Been waiting for a manual car to come up for sale. Last one I saw was by Curated may be 5 years ago. Hesitated and missed out.
It probably doesn't have a positive ROI
Economy hasn’t nearly been as strong as it seems for a while and it’s really coming to a head now. Many other industries have been suffering for a few years now after the overspending of 2021/1H 2022.
Combine that with seasonal slowdowns and yeah, it’s going to be a tough 6 months but hopefully picks up in spring.
Yeah agreed
“Overspending in 2021 and 2022.” Not according to the Congressional oversight office (neutral). The record spending was during the previous administration.
@@johnbecker70 I’m not talking government, I’m talking corporate…
@@rckrckrckrck Gotcha. At some point corporate, will have to reassess their spending. I would also like to see a bit less of the corporate greed we’ve been experiencing.
At least Dan’s business isn’t top heavy.
Not that I would dream of telling you what to do but your story sounds familiar especially in the exotic car world, case in point is Michael Sheenan Ferraris on line in California who for over 40 years changed his business quite a few times always adapting to the craziness of the Ferrari world. You might want to check him out and his story.
Yeah
Hi, Dan! Thanks for the content and for your frank, honest manner. Wondering if you'd ever consider doing manual conversions on Aston Martins, specifically the VH-Era cars that had the Sport Shift 1 & 2 automated manual transmissions? From what I've gathered, they are similar to the F1 & E-Gear transmissions that Ferrari & Lamborghini used (possibly made by Graziano?). I have an '08 V8 Vantage Roadster that I absolutely love, however, most Roadsters that came out of the factory came heavily optioned, including the Sport Shift transmission...manual roadsters are rare here in the States. Keep up the great work!
The problem is I'm not really in a position to start a manufacturing company... So if someone made the parts sure we'd install it
I had a 2019 Audi etron prestige no issue had around 200 miles of range nicer than a Tesla
Yeah
Mustang - "Crowd Killers" ......classic line and video clip.
Lol yup
Are you floor planning all your cars?
No
Stick with supercars because that fits with the business case. If you would like to do more business start a new company with a separate business case because that is a total different market with low margins and much more volume based. also hire some employees for physical work because so you can focus on customers and sales. Maybe good time to update the current business case/forcast with actuals and plan the next quarters.
We discussed that actually.
Love the lotto guy ❤😂😂😂
Yes!
It's a great idea to expand to exotic but less expensive cars. For example, Giulia Quadrifoglio, AMGs, BMW M cars, stuff like that would be cool, plus all the american equivalents, which you know better than I.
Yes
Yeah, it sure in the hell seems like everyone wants a G80 M car now or maybe it just a youtuber thing.
Sorry to hear about the problems with the business but I believe every car dealer is affected, gone are the covid prices
Yup
You can always go back to the IT software industry 😊. Space X would be a cool place to work 🚀
Yeah I'm pretty rusty on the tech industry but I'm sure I could figure it out again
@normalguysupercar I was a programmer for many years on digital vax and sun microsystems...I loved sun sparcs .....I miss the mainframe days...but for me it's been over for 20 years
2:20 By the way EVs DO NOT cost nothing to charge!!!😬😬
Well no but it's much cheaper than gas
@@normalguysupercarAgree. We’ve had EV’s for about nine years and their charge cost doesn’t even show a blip on our power bill. Comparisons with gasoline show an equivalent cost of less than a buck a gallon.
Yep for now but it will get more expensive.
Dan has a Gt40 replica and does a short drive to work and back
Meg has a family size mini and does a small commute
Wouldnt selling the gt40 be the smart move (or is it up for sale?)
It is for sale
Will y'all be picking up any gated R8s or more Gallardos in the near future?
Probably not much as they have not proven to be easy to sell
@normalguysupercar ahh I see, that makes sense.
Did you make the Colorado trip?
No
lol. Manheim going down. I was thinking dammit I was going to buy something today. Was too busy to get on, on Wednesday. There’s always next week lol
Yup that's was annoying
I’d heard somewhere that importing secondhand Chinese EVs avoids the 100% imports tariff?
It’s a business I want to look into given China and lots EVs on my doorstep
Are you doing manual conversions for lambos btw?
We aren't yet
@@normalguysupercar - ok thanks
FYR supercars cheaper here - f430s 50k USD or below - gallardos the same - but Hong Kong cars right hand drive
Lots supercar owners here might be interested in parts manual conversions though ;
Hey Dan, I live here in the Bay Area and I always check my favorite super cars and classics dealerships. Is it ok to notify you and what is the best way to contact you. Let me know, I would love to help.
You can email us sales@ngsupercars.com
Problem is pretty much all supercars market is long now in so-called bubble level territory. Biggest joke are probably manual F355s changing hands for $250k+ in some instances lmao. Had a manual one back in the early 00s, great car but definitely not a $250k car. Not referring to ultra rare examples with less than 10,000kms, but run of the mill 30,000-100000kms examples. By the way manuals are not that rare at all, at least here in Europe. You can find them all day long and in fact all 94-96 examples were actually manuals.
The 355s are way way away over valued
I don't know if it's in your budget, but look into the Mini Countryman SE, which is basically the newer electric version of Meg's current car, has similar power and torque figures. It's around 50k.
We're looking for used so they already have the big deprecation hit
You may want to look into including the previous generation of Maserati Granturismo and Quattroporte. They are more affordable and share a lot of parts with Ferrari.
Indeed
Gov always says small business is the backbone of America yet they make all kinds of rules and regulation that make very difficult to succeed. Also your friends all expect a deal from you and don't forget to buy softball uniforms for people you never seeing your business
Very true
Make your hobby into a business and it will slowly kill the joy of it (sometimes very rapidly)
Perhaps
I had a shop that worked on Ferrari / Maserati. Things went slow so I decided t move down market. HUGE MISTAKE. They are two different customers with 2 different needs. The down market people want PRICE PRICE PRICE. Margins were terrible. You have to make it back with volume. They also want it today no matter what it is and so do you because you need the money. What happens is the exotics get left behind as you try to get another car out the door so the guy doesn't report you on facebook. Then you have all kinds of equipment and tools and manuals you don't have. Your mechanics may not have experience. You probably have different parts suppliers and subcontractors. Bottom line -- sometimes its better to stay in your own lane.
Yeah the higher margins and less volume is nice but if there's no volume that's a problem
What's your stratgey for dealing with the EV depreciation? I feel thats a fairly large hidden cost of ownership for most EVs right now.
Get a used EV that has already depreciated a good chunk
Buy them used.
If you had Corsa exhausts that would be awesome. Corvette, Mustang and Camaro parts would be awesome....esp Vette.
Yeah those are pretty well known in the US cars
Downturn is just starting i think. My 80 year old business has slowed way down and I expect it to get worse. Buckle up, I've been through this a couple of times, its way easier with no kids or debt.
Well I can't reverse the kid part but the low debt is certainly part of the plan
Out of curiosity… what is Meg’s favorite car?
AMG GTR in hell Green magno
It seems like if you can buy F1 F430s with some margin between your cost and retail, and then covert them, you could add even more margin between your total cost in and retail. Easier said than done?
That's what we tried.
OK, that made me lol for real - Dan said, I know. Mustang Crowd killer then cut to the short vid!!🤣
Lol!
Love you all❤
Thank you
Discipline or Despair. Not just cars, have a very desirable Ducati for sale and Zero response. Out-of-control Inflation, nobody has $$$$$$$$$$$.
Yup
Curious if you find insurance on the EV is cheaper -- Our Telsa is almost as much to insure as our BMW + Porsche combined........
It’s cheaper for my 18 year old to be assigned to our BMW X5 M Comp, and I’m assigned the Tesla Model 3, regardless of who drives what. It’s crazy.
I haven't looked yet to be honest
Take people for rides. $100 a pop. You could make $500 a day. And get content. Easy peasy. And, you are getting the enjoyment of the car and it's miles. They your pets.
I don't know if that many people want to pay that much. Plus I almost would want to just do that for free because it's fun
@@normalguysupercar I think people would and you could get steady income from that. Each of the guys getting a few hundred dollars in Revenue a day. It is very expensive to rent these things it's not like they can just go drive one on their own. Unless they have a friend that has a Supercar they're out of luck
We used to notice presidential election year slumps. Did not matter who was leading or who won, business slowed down August to the end of the year.
Yep. I've heard that from multiple dealers
I thought you worked full time and the business was a side part time venture?
No I've been full time on this for many years now
Porsche, there is no substitute!
There's is no margin
Definitely incorporate BMW in your fleet these cars especially the M series are always in demand.
Yeah those are great cars
How far is the charging station from your home, Don't get one with a bad battery bank that has to be replace, as my fiancé did, insurance acts VERY shady to cover the expense. Your business move is GREAT ! ! you do have to take a small loss to stay in business, you need to teach other business that, they stay greedy then blame American people.
Indeed
Maybe start to convert the audi r8?
We're not opposed to that
Good luck bud
Thanks
Austin real estate crashing. Good luck on managing the business. I’m sure you will come out ok. Seems like u got a good organization there.
Thank you
🤞🏻 for you guys
Thank you
Mini Cooper is solid.
It's pretty cool
Many of us don't own ferraris, but I doubt it's by choice. I know it's not in my case haha
Haha true
Hi dan....yes its a big shit sandwich and we all are going to have to take a bite...
Im not makeing big bucks buying and trading rolexes anymore...those 2k and 3k days are long gone...but im retired 68 and have SS plus a very small pension from ibm....which may pay the elec bill.
Ive sold my house and live in a over 55 apt community in magnolia texas.....easy to budget this way vs home are money pits. 💰 good luck ....i remain hopeful but i really think its going to get worse before it gets any better....
Yeah, it always gets worse before it gets better. LOL!
Over the years of driving all these cars… is there one that sticks out? Do you have a favorite?
F40, Speciale, Scuderia, GT40 are pretty notable in my mind.
5:14 the ‘05 would benefit from spacers.
Yes
OK, business is slow, however I bet if I started negotiating selling price, you wouldn’t budge a bit. That’s why business is slow and you’re going underwater on interest. It’s gonna be all your way or no bidness…..my instincts are rarely wrong.
When the price is below everything else on the market there's a point at which you don't need to lower the price
Beautiful home Dan
Thank you
Good car enthusiasts. Rookie car dealer
Perhaps I am but I wouldn't say that Josh is.
Renting to rappers for background scenery is also another revenue stream. No I am not joking. Film prop needs, you get it.
We've been asked before many times actually. LOL!
Floorplan is the killer...
It can be
As a Stock Trader & Car enthusiasts I appreciate your insight on the current market conditions,
Many market participants (including myself) have this theory of an upcoming recession but the recent job report showed everything is fine (the numbers are manipulated) probably for the sake of election
Thanks again
I feel like nothing is gonna happen until the election at the earliest... Most likely not until the new year though
True
key aspect of non farm payrolls & weekly job claims is that they tend to get revised up or down on the next releases since the initial release comprises 60-70% of the responses and by the time of the second or third releases it gets to 100% for the referenced month
They always tend to smooth things out prior to election and explode it afterwards